'It is nothing,' said Margherita. 'They are speaking about lottery numbers.'
'They seem to me to be quarrelling,' Bianca Maria timidly replied.
'They will make friends again on Saturday evening,' Margherita muttered, with her commonplace philosophy.
'How so?' the girl asked, letting herself be drawn into the discussion.
'Because none of them will win anything.'
'Let us pray,' said Bianca, raising her eyes to the ceiling, as if gazing on the starry firmament.
It was impossible now to finish the Litany. The discussion in the drawing-room had got so warm, they heard it all, the voices coming near and going off, as if the Cabalists had risen from the table and were walking up and down again, with the need excited people have of going backwards and forwards and round about.
'Shall I shut the door?' asked Margherita.
'Shut it; we are praying,' Bianca Maria said resignedly.
The voices did not come in so distinctly. They could follow the Litany to the end without interruption. But the girl's mind was no longer in the words she was saying. She was quite distracted, and hurried through the finishing Salve Regina as if time pressed.